Teruhashi Nomi
by microsleep
Summary: (OC) Teruhashi Nomi is the younger sister of Teruhashi Kokomi but has none of the bright golden glow her sister has. She has more of a dull, silver glow, and she suspects that this glow is the reason why no one seems to notice her. She does have a slight power, but it's definitely more trouble than it's worth...
1. Big Sister

This is a fanfiction. That means I don't own the original story of Saiki K.. I'm just here for fun.

* * *

My name is Teruhashi Nomi. I'm a middle school student, and I'm an outcast in my own family. My older brother and sister are both beautiful like the golden rays of the sun, angels that have descended on Earth to bless the human creatures with their glorious rays. My sister especially. Even the golden glow of my brother's looks are overshadowed by Kokomi's perfection. She has the beauty of a goddess and a personality beyond kindness. Despite knowing that the way she acts is a total faux, I can't deny how hard she works to be as perfect as she is, and to me, she deserves every admirer she has, which is every person that sees her.

Makoto is also an admirer of Kokomi's, but I think that's kind of weird. Makoto is a huge star though, he likes being a huge celebrity. For some reason, Kokomi is just a regular high school girl though.

And just like a regular high school girl, she's developed a crush on a boy in her class. She won't tell me who it is, denies even having a crush, but I know better. She's totally crushing on someone. Now I'm here in PK Academy to see who this guy is that captured my sister's heart.

I hear a whole crowd of people gasping "Oh!"

I'm glad I was able to find my sister so quickly.

I hurry over to the crowd. Some guy bumps into me, pushing me over, but he doesn't even notice. That's okay, I'm used to it. I get up, brush myself off, and push my way through the crowd. I hear some sighs about the beauty of the Heavens and I know I've found the right place. The crowd is stuffed around the entrance of Year 2 Class 3. I see my sister next to the window, getting ready to leave. It's the end of the day, after all. Usually, I would only see her at home, but somehow she's prettier in this lighting. I wish-

"Ouch!" I cry, as someone's arm accidentally smacked my face. No one apologized. I wonder if they even heard me. Probably not. Kokomi heard my cry though and turned to look at the crowded doorway with surprise.

"Nomi?" She called. All of the guys around me turned to each other in confusion. All of the students in her class turned to look at her, well, except for a plain guy with pink hair. I stepped out from behind one of the guys in front of me.

"Hi big sister."

It was so silent for a moment that I didn't think anyone had heard me. Not that that would be weird, but it was unsettling for it to be silent around Kokomi. But then, there was an explosion of noise.

"BIG SISTER?" Every single student shouted. Then everyone was looking at me, looking at me, I didn't like it, I wasn't used to it. I tried to run to Kokomi, to hide behind her, but suddenly there was this huge man leering down at me. His face was shadowed, his hair was cut in an ugly yellow mohawk, and he had this horrible scar running down his left eye.

"Huhhh?" He growled. "Teruhashi-san, you didn't tell us you have a younger sister."

I choke back a scream and feel my legs give out from under me. Is this monster going to eat me?

"Geez Nendo, you're scaring her." A normal-looking purple-haired guy pulled the scary man away from me. "Sorry about that." He said to me. He looks nice, I thought. No wait, what is that scary thirst for blood doing in the corner of his eyes, hidden behind his glasses?

"Small Teruhashi, it is very nice to meet you!" Shouted a red-haired man with strong muscles. He whipped his hand out for me to shake. I hesitantly reach out my own hand to meet his, but I stop when I hear a strangely creepy voice from behind me.

"Hehehe, I see. It's a message from the Dark Reunion." I turn to see a blue-haired kid pointing at me aggressively with an injured hand. "She is wearing a middle school uniform in a high school setting!" Then he went off, mumbling something about secret codes and whatever. I feel bad for him immediately. He clearly doesn't have enough money to buy a new uniform, it almost looks like it had been cut up. I wonder what he did to his hand to have to wrap it in such strange red fabric. Well, he's clearly delusional.

"Nomi, what are you doing here?" Kokomi is squatting next to me, and smiling in a very sweet way. As expected of her. Only I can tell that she is quite upset with me and is going to tear me to pieces once we get home.

So not the best time to tell her I wanted to see the boy she likes.

Well, if I want to get off this easier, I should at least try to boost her image. If it even can be boosted.

"You always help me with my homework and studying, and I wanted to show you the A I got on the test today because of your help!" I grin widely, eyes searching her face for clues if I was doing okay. Her glow did get just a little brighter. I took this as a good sign.

"Nomi-chan! That's great! I'm so proud of you!" She helped me onto my feet and gave me a huge hug. Whispers flitted around the room about how kind and helpful Teruhashi-san is, a few said they wished she would tutor _them_.

Before she could pull away from the hug and kindly tell me that I shouldn't come to her school because of x, y, and z that everyone will nod their heads to, I whisper in her ear,

"So which one of these guys is the one you have a crush on?"

I feel her hug stiffen, but she can't flip out on me, not with people watching. She pulls back, gives me her small lecture about traveling alone to unfamiliar schools, all with a dangerous smile.

I'm sure to everyone else, her smile does not look forced. Well, maybe I shouldn't have said anything.

"Nii-san is making us dinner tonight," I informed her. There were some whispers about a mysterious older brother. Goodness, did she not tell anyone that she has siblings? Maybe she didn't want to leech popularity from Makoto. She wants it to be all her own.

"Alright," she answered. "Wait for a minute, we'll walk home together."

I nod and go over to the side of the classroom. I glance around the classroom. Most have already gone back to whatever they were doing, but the rest continued to stare at Kokomi as she gathered her bag. No one was noticing me anymore. I relax almost immediately after I confirm this. Back to normal.

You might think that I'm used to being ignored due to always being next to my siblings. True, but the problem is deeper than that. You see, I'm simply an invisible person. The only reason why people even see me sometimes is that one of my siblings talk to me. It's not that I'm ugly. I have the same blue hair, pretty eyes, and overall attractiveness of both my sister and brother. I just don't have the golden glow. People notice the sunshine warmth of my siblings. I don't have that. However, just because I don't have a golden glow does not mean I don't have a glow at all. I can see it in the mirror, a more silver, white glow surrounds me. But it's subtle sometimes. It gets bigger when my siblings are near me but really can't compare to their bright warmth.

You must understand. Kokomi is a sun. People love her, want her, seek out her light and heat. I am a moon. Just as pretty, but not nearly as noticeable. In fact, the world ignores me and wants to jump straight to Kokomi. They want to bathe in her light. They want to sleep and ignore me. Is my analogy clear enough yet?

 _Yes, yes, I get it already. You think too much._

I jolt from a sudden voice in my head, one that sounds very annoyed. I lift my eyes and stare directly at the back of the head of the pink-haired guy from before. I don't know why, but I just know that it was him. He seems more rigid than before, as if he realized that I heard him. He must be thinking something, but I can't hear him anymore. Just as I decide to go over and talk to him, Kokomi is standing in front of me.

"Ready, Nomi?"

"Huh? Oh, yes."

I glance at that bright pink hair one last time before following my sister out. He...was reading my mind. It's absolutely ridiculous, but for some reason, I feel so strongly that this is the truth. That guy has psychic powers.

Are you reading my mind right now? I try to think loudly.

Nothing pops into my head in return. I'll have to come back and talk to him one day.


	2. Skipping Class

Half the walk home, Kokomi is completely silent. I can tell that she's contemplating something, probably how to properly be mad at me, or even if she should be mad at me at all.

Scratch that, she should be very mad at me.

She _hates_ that I know that she has a crush on someone.

Honestly, I don't even really know how I know. It just sorta popped into my head one day while we were eating dinner. The notion of the oh-so-perfect Kokomi having a crush like a regular high school girl was so surprising to me that I had almost spat out the chicken noodle soup we were eating.

"Hey Kokomi, do you have a crush on someone?" I had asked after swallowing. This time, she almost spat out her soup. She hid it well, though. I can't say the same for Makoto, who dropped his glass of water and looked like he didn't even notice when it shattered across the table. He just sat there, kind of numb.

With the broken glass everywhere, it was the end of dinner and my question didn't get answered, but I knew I was right.

That's been happening a lot recently, actually, when a random piece of information pops into my head about someone that I look at. And then when I try to confirm whether or not it is true, they always look at me like I just told them their deepest secret. They usually end up not answering. I don't really get it, I'm just trying to confirm the accuracy of the random thoughts that pop up in my head.

"Nomi." My sister says. I'm brought back to the present, remembering that I'm still walking home from the situation that just happened at her school.

I look up at her.

"I don't have a crush on someone."

It takes me a moment or two to fully process her words.

To be honest, I'm really shocked. I was so certain. But even though Kokomi lies to people all the time, she'd never lie to _me_ , right?

For some reason, that idea doesn't ring true.

"You're lying." I blurt.

Kokomi let out a perfect sigh.

"Let's just make a deal that you never come to my school again, alright? Non-students shouldn't be on campus anyway."

"No one would notice me anyway." I mumble.

"Nomi." Kokomi begins with a warning tone.

"It's true. You know it's true."

"We're not talking about that." Perfectly avoiding the topic of how her little sister is so boring. "You are not to come to PK Academy anymore, do you understand?"

"We're fluent in the same language, sister. Of course I understand."

Kokomi isn't convinced that I won't come to her school anymore. That's rather perceptive of her, I plan to go back tomorrow. But she drops the topic because it wouldn't be very perfect of her to repeat herself five times.

Dinner that night is cereal because Makoto burnt the 3-step mac 'n cheese.

School is really boring. I knew this, and I think most everyone knows this, but today it has been truly confirmed. What is math compared to the fascinating idea that someone in my sister's class has psychic powers? I raise my hand. It takes a minute for the teacher to notice, but he eventually calls on me.

"I'm bored. May I leave? I have something a lot more interesting to look into."

Silence. The whole class gapes at me as if I'm out of my mind. I have to admit, I don't really understand why Kokomi likes being gaped at.

"You can't, Nomi. Please pay attention." My teacher eventually says. He rubs his head and looks at me for a second longer, as if still shocked by my statement, before returning to parabolas.

"But Mr. W," I say loudly. "I can't pay attention. My mind is occupied by this situation I'm having. I seem unable to think about anything else."

Sighing and rubbing his head, he replied without much patience. "Doodle or look out the window or something, Nomi. Stop interrupting class."

"If I continue to interrupt class, can I leave?"

Mr. W rubs his head yet again. This is just something he does. I think he has a constant headache from dealing with his students all the time.

"You can only leave class to go to the bathroom, Nomi. Would you like to go to the bathroom?"

"But I don't need to use the bathroom."

He seems to be frustrated. Maybe I'm interrupting class a bit too much. I should probably stop.

"Sorry Mr. W. Please continue with the lesson."

"Nomi, is it a bad situation that you're in?" Gina, a girl in my class, asks me with a very concerned voice. She is a very nice person, and probably the closest thing I have to a friend. She has very plain hair that she often pins back with sparkly barrettes. Maybe for Christmas I should get some pretty barrettes for her.

"No, thank you for your concern though. I'm perfectly fine." But I really don't want to have to sit in this classroom anymore. I want to go back to my sister's school as soon as possible. If I go after school, there won't be any time to observe because their school will just be letting out too. I need to make sure that I'm home before Kokomi so that she doesn't suspect, and I absolutely cannot be caught.

It has to be now.

I dislike lying, but I don't hate it enough to never do it.

"Mr. W, I changed my mind, I do have to use the bathroom. I fear that I ate something horrendous and will be stuck in there for a long time. Can I go?"

He rubs his head again and moves back to the whiteboard to begin his lesson again. "Just take the bathroom pass and go." He says monotonously. "So we know how to create a parabola now. What happens when I put this negative sign right here, in front of the equation?"

During this, I get up and leave the room, snatching the pass on my way out. No one watched me leave. Now that I thought about it, I could have just gotten up and left without anyone noticing from the start.

Sometimes I'm dumb.

Having no plans to return to school for the rest of the day, I grab all my stuff when I leave. I drop the bathroom pass outside the bathroom so that it will be properly returned by a student who notices it. I assume that it will be noticed. I wonder what that's like.

I'm actually excited to return to my sister's school. I really want to meet and talk to that psychic. Oh, does that mean that he knows I'm coming? Psychics can see the future, can't they? I'm certain that that is the most common definition of a psychic. If he can read minds, I wonder if he knows who my sister's crush is on. I wonder if he'll tell me.

I stop my walking when I'm suddenly struck with the realization that I have no way of talking to this guy. I can't burst into the classroom and demand to have a conversation, one: because they're in the middle of class, and two: because Kokomi would be right there! Why didn't I think of this before?

I've been dumb twice within an hour! I've really got to be better.

I turn around and begin to head back to my school. I haven't walked far, but knowing that I'm just heading back to math class does not make me want to travel any sort of distance. But what am I supposed to do? Sitting outside my sister's school sounds about as boring as sitting in a classroom, and at least math class has air conditioning. I suppose I could head home, but if Makoto pops up with that sporadic schedule of his, I'd have to deal with explaining myself. And since that sounds like the use of effort I don't feel like mustering, I'll just go back to class.

Maybe I'll be able to hurry over to PK Academy after school again, like yesterday. But I'm not really sure how to talk to the psychic person. Maybe I can get him to talk to me. He's able to read my mind, maybe he'll come if I ask with my thoughts. With my thoughts or through my thoughts? If I think anything, will he hear it?

What if I'm thinking too quietly? Can I shout my thoughts? Or are thoughts just thoughts are there isn't any kind of volume? That would make sense, or at least be simpler if there wasn't volume.

That kid was right. I do think a lot. I can do without receiving answers to any of my random questions though. But there is one question I really want an answer to, and I can only hope that he will know the answer. He's the one who's psychic, so how was I able to hear one of his thoughts?


	3. Nacho Cheese

Mr. W was right, doodling in a math notebook is quite entertaining. I drew flowers, horses, and chocolate bars. In fact, I drew my chocolate bars so well that I'm now craving one. Or two. Maybe five will be satisfactory.

"Nomi, where are you going? The next class is about to start." Gina calls my name. I almost drop my notebook of chocolate doodles from surprise. Surprise that she noticed me, and surprise that she cared.

In fact, I'm so surprised I completely forget why I'm leaving the room.

"I'm, uh, I'm going, I think, um…"

"Are you going to deal with your situation?" Gina's eyes are worried. Why is she worried? What situation is she talking about? My mind is racing to remember what she's talking about, but for some reason, I completely blank.

When I fail to answer, Gina nods. "I knew it, it is a bad situation. You never interrupt class." She sighs kindly and looks at me with a smile. "Go, I'll cover for you, is that okay?"

Well, that's very sweet of her. Not that I need covering for, no one will notice whether I'm there or not. But what she's offering is so very nice that I can't tell her that her services aren't needed. So I nod, pick up my notebook, and leave.

I think they sell the really big chocolate bars at the convenience store a few blocks away.

The wrapping around the chocolate gives away easily and I'm soon breaking the delicious goodness between my teeth.

So. Good.

I don't even care that, when I looked at the store clerk, I had been struck with the odd realization that a few months ago he stole three hundred dollars from the register so he could buy some video games. Maybe I'll tell someone someday, but today he sold me chocolate and therefore today I do not care.

I sit down on a bench in the park. I don't really care that I'm missing class. I do care quite a bit that the heat from the sun is melting my chocolate, making it soft and sticky. I don't think it changes the taste too much, but it makes the transport from wrapper to mouth a lot more difficult.

"It's over here!"

A voice cries from somewhere in the park. I look around and soon spot a few high schoolers running around. Well, more accurately, one is running around like a small child, one is kicking the playset as if testing its stability, and the last one is standing there, stoic and uninterested.

"See? Right here!" The one running around comes to a halt and now points aggressively at the ground below him. "The treasure is hidden below this ground! I can sense it, too. C'mon, Nendo, dig it up."

The large guy stops kicking the playset and looks over at his blue-haired companion. "Why do I have to dig it up?"

The blue-haired kid laughs. "Because if _I_ try to dig it up, the Earth Goddess will take it as if I'm starting a war upon her and her kind, and I don't want to have to bother with a big fight right now."

The large guy just stares blankly. I wonder if he even listened to that story that the kid obviously worked very hard to make up. Actually...upon closer inspection, these people look familiar. And they're wearing PK Academy's uniform!

I about squeal from delight when I realize that the third person is the psychic I saw from yesterday. I assume. I don't see that many pink-haired high school students around here.

"Hey!" I shout across the park, and then I get up and start running over. I don't think they heard me, as they keep messing with the ground, but when I get up right next to them, the blue-haired kid falls back in surprise with a surprisingly girlish squeak.

"Wh-who are you?" He musters.

I can't hold back the laugh that bubbles in my throat. I feel bad when I see his face turn a light shade of pink, but the harm is already done, so might as well move on.

"My name is Nomi. I would say 'pleased to meet you' but we've already met."

"We have?" The large guy scratches at his weirdly shaped chin.

"Yeah, but it's okay if you can't remember. I really just want to talk to you!" I say, whirling around to face the pink-haired one.

But no one is there.

"Hey wasn't there someone there just now?" I say, whirling back to the large guy.

"Who, my pal? Yeah, he was just there."

"So where did he go?"

"Did he leave?" He turned to look. "Oh! He's gone. Pal? Where did you go? Paaallll?" He cups his hand around his mouth to make his voice travel further. Then he begins to wander off, shouting 'pal' into the sky.

I don't understand. Why did he leave?

"You," I start, facing the blue-haired kid. I remember him clearly now, he's the delusional one with the torn clothes. He perks when he notices me talking to him. "What is that person's name?"

"Who, Nendo?"

I recall him calling the large one Nendo earlier. I shake my head. "No, not the big guy. The one with the green glasses."

"Saiki?"

"Saiki, huh?" I turn and look at the direction Nendo wandered off looking for him.

"My name is Kaido, if you're interested…"

"I'm not, but thanks." I begin to walk away. If Saiki is not here, then there is no purpose for me to be here. And if there is no purpose for me being here, why should I stay?

"No, wait, who are you?" This Kaido kid calls after me. In my surprise, I stop. No one had ever wanted to know who _I_ am before.

"Me? I'm, well, my name is...uh…" Honestly, I didn't blank on my name. My name is Nomi. But he is looking at me with some serious suspicion that I don't know what to do with.

"Are you part of the Dark Reunion?" He asks, cautiously looking around.

The...what?

Oh yes, he had been mumbling something about that yesterday when he saw me, too. Did I look like a member?

When I take too long to answer, he clenches his right fist and stands, a glare that doesn't fit his meek character from before emerging.

"So you catch me when I'm alone. I must thank you for that, now innocent bystanders do not have to be harmed in our legendary fight."

This...is getting out of hand. I back away.

"Wait, no, I don't know what Dark Reunion is, I don't want to fight, I don't know _how_ to fight, would you just _quit_ glaring at me?"

"If you aren't Dark Reunion, then who are you?"

"Geez, I'm just a middle school student. My name is–"

"Nomi?"

I turn. My sister has appeared, standing in a beam of light pouring through the park trees above. Sheepishly, I raise my hand in greeting.  
"Hi, sister."

I hear a gasp from Kaido. A glance back tells me that my beautiful sister has him under her spell.

"What are you doing here?" Kokomi demands, rushing over to me. "It's still school time."

"And so why are _you_ all here?" I fire back.

"Our class has taken a short trip to a bakery nearby for our home eco class." Kaido supplied helpfully. My sister nods and smiles, looking at me expectantly. Waiting. Secretly very impatient.

"I…"

Well I can't tell her that I'm skipping school. But there really isn't anything else to say. There isn't a good reason for me to be out of class, multiple streets away from my school.

"School dismissed everyone, someone pulled a prank and all the classrooms had been flooded with nacho cheese." Somehow, I say it with a straight face. Somehow, I say it without stuttering.

I casually take a chomp out of my precious, but softened, chocolate.

"So hey, why don't I come with you guys? To the bakery. You don't mind, do you big sister?" I put on a huge smile. I'm not going to her school, and I'm not skipping my own school (as far as she knows), so I know she can't refuse me. Not without sounding like a jerk older sister, that is.

"Of course you can come, Nomi. What a horrible prank." Kokomi's smile strains. She beckons me over to walk next to her as we all turned to walk back to the bakery. She obviously doesn't believe in the nacho cheese prank (I doubt anyone would actually believe it), but it wouldn't be very perfect of her not to believe her little sister.

"Nacho cheese does take a long time to get out of schools." Nendo states profoundly. "It gets everywhere."

Well. My doubts have been proven incorrect. In my defense, though, his level of gullibility was out of my calculations.

"By the way, why did you come over to the park, Kokomi?"

"Ah, I was looking for S…" She cuts herself off and begins again. She must not have been satisfied with what she was about to say. Perhaps it was not a perfect sentence. "Teacher was looking for where everyone went, so I volunteered to help him look."

I grin and look forward. Saiki may be a psychic, but he's also just a student. And therefore, I _have_ to find him at the bakery. Because he will have to be with his class. Then I'll be able to talk to him.

 _ **A/N**_

 _Hey everyone! Thank you so much for picking this up to read; I was honestly completely shocked that anyone read it at all, so I am very humbled and very grateful. I'll do my best to continue posting chapters as frequently as possible, but I'm sorry if they are irregular posts. My main focus is and always will be school._

 _I also don't know what I'm doing, so that's a thing._

 _Have a great day! :)_


	4. Baked Goods

_**A/N**_

 _Been a while! Sorry for taking so long._

 _So, I still don't know what I'm doing. This is my first fanfic, and I'm all too aware of its flaws, and probably still not aware of many more. Part of my procrastination, I think, has been because I've been pretty scared of doing this wrong._

 _But I think I'm just going to go for it and just try my best. Maybe the writing will be crude, maybe the characters will not act how they would in the show, maybe I'll mess it all up and it'll just crash and burn, but I think I have an interesting character here and I want to see where she'll take me. I hope you all will forgive me for my mistakes._

* * *

The door jingles pleasantly as my sister, Kaido, Nendo, and I walk into the bakery. The smell of freshly baked goods hits my nose, the comfy smell almost distracting me from the gasps and excitement that surrounds my sister as she walks over to the counter. The man running the store begins stuttering and offering her free macaroons.

Ignoring the unfair benefits my sister has, I search the tables for a head of pink hair. I hope to spot him before my sister can drag me to a table of her choosing. She won't want me interacting with anyone, but it's not like I would say anything to drag down her image. It's not like I _could_ say anything to drag down her image. I may know how secretly manipulative she is, but I really can't come up with any reason why I would want to make her look bad. And I really can't come up with any way _to_ make her look bad.

"C'mon, Nomi." My sister passes me, holding a large box of, I assume, baked goods that she received on the house. I sigh. I got caught up in my thoughts again and missed my chance to find and sit next to Saiki. Now even if I spot him, there's no good reason for me to go talk to him. Before, I could have blamed my speed to take a seat to be random and out of impatience, but now I'll be stuck with my sister. I shuffle behind her, following her to the table of her choosing. I don't even like baked goods. I mean, they're fine, I guess...nothing compared to the silky crunch that is a good chocolate bar, but sometimes I'll go for a chocolate cake.

I regret coming here. What a waste of time.

"Oh! An open seat, how convenient." My sister exclaims, setting down her box and elegantly sitting in her chosen chair. I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Convenience had nothing to do with it. She could want to sit in any occupied chair and that person would _conveniently_ give it up for her.

I go to take my seat opposite from her when I glance up to see the other occupant of the table, the person my sister just sat down next to.

I forget to sit down.

It's Saiki, the kid with the pink hair and green glasses, the _psychic_ , right in front of me. I had allowed my sister to literally lead me right to him.

Quite convenient indeed.

He doesn't seem to notice that anyone else had sat near him. His face only shows the expression of peaceful bliss as he chews on his sweet treats, his precious spoon clutched in his hand ready to transport the next bite. He must be very in love with cake in order to not have noticed Kokomi sit next to him. He hadn't even spared her a glance. That's...quite shocking, actually. I've never seen that happen before. Men have always, _always_ dropped everything they were doing to worship the goddess that is my sister. Women, too, although less obviously.

I just keep becoming more and more curious about this person.

"Nomi, why aren't you sitting down?" Kokomi's voice brings my attention back.

"O-oh, right." I mumble, plopping down in my chair, staring at Saiki from the corners of my eyes.

"This is Saiki," my sister introduces politely. "Saiki, this is my younger sister, Nomi."

I can't help but hold my breath. How will he react to being introduced to me? This person, this _psychic_ , could be the answer to my burning question. With just a flick of his powers, he could find out all the juicy secrets in my sister's head, and he could tell me the details of the one secret that I want to know.

Surely he knows why I'm here. That's what psychics do, right? Predict the future and know things about the people around them.

I watch in suspense as he finishes chewing, savoring, swallowing, before he finally looks at me. He gives me a short nod in greeting, and then wastes no time to return to his baked treats. And that's it.

That...that's it?

He had nodded. And then gone back to his cake.

Don't get me wrong, I'm perfectly used to quick, uninterested greetings. It's sometimes a wonder that I receive greetings at all. But usually, when Kokomi introduces me, I don't know, there's more of a reaction. At least towards her. There's _always_ a reaction to her. This guy is so...stoic. He really, honest-to-goodness cares more about his cake right now than the Heaven-sent angel sitting next to him.

He had barely acknowledged the existence of _the_ Teruhashi Kokomi, and spared time for only a nod in response to her words. My sister is worth far more than a simple _nod._

I can feel my blood begin to rile up.

I have never seen such disrespect for my sister.

I will currently admit quite plainly that I've never had a solid grasp on my emotions, although it does take something special to make me feel much more than mild disinterest. Regular humans lack something interesting when you live with two golden angels. Plus, everybody always forgets I exist, so I fail to care about everybody else all that much. But as much as my siblings overshadow me, they've _never_ forgotten about me. Kokomi takes care to ask about my day and invites me along to some of her shopping excursions. Makoto offers me tickets to all of his movies' premieres, which I would take if I had any friends to go along with. And one time he brought me back a beautiful chocolate exclusive to Chile when he went there for an on-site filming for a major movie. We're not the most functional family, but I love my siblings.

I'm used to praise being thrown at my sister simply for existing. And as much as she makes me look like an absolute nobody, she always treats me like somebody. She's my sister, and she's perfect. Literally, too.

I wonder if Kokomi sees my eye twitch in absolute anger, because she quickly shoves the box of baked goods at me and forcefully kindly tells me to grab anything I'd like. I glare at Saiki, not being able to see his eyes very well through his green glasses, but glaring all the same. Not letting my eyes off him, I reach my hand into the box and shove the first thing I grab into my mouth.

That was a sort of mistake.

It's not like I accidentally ate a snake or anything, it was definitely a cake/cookie-type-thing, but it was definitely _not_ chocolate flavored. What is the point of any type of dessert if doesn't taste like chocolate?

My glared eyes widen and I cover my mouth with my hand, physically fighting my impulse to spit the disgusting flavor out. I'm pull away my tongue from the _whatever_ in my mouth, trying not to taste it. I really, _really_ don't want to swallow this.

A movement from on the table catches my eye and, welcome to any distraction, I look. My sister's hand is subtly placing a small stack of napkins in front of me. A lot less subtly, I pounce on them, grabbing a couple and bringing them to my mouth to spit out the _whatever_ it was. I roll a few more napkins around the gross, half-chewed mess and hide it in my hands under the table, scraping away desperately at my tastebuds with my teeth.

The noise around the bakery hasn't changed at all, so I know that no one is looking at me, but I find myself too ashamed to look up from my lap, where my hands hide the wad of napkins. How picky must a person be to find any dessert flavor other than chocolate absolutely unbearable? Kokomi must be so embarrassed. Forget about hating Saiki, at least he eats what's in front of him. It's just dessert, I just...I don't understand why I just can't.

I feel the bottom of my eyes burn a little. Factually, I know nobody actually noticed my picky, dramatic reaction to a dessert that I'm sure is actually very tasty. But...I don't know. It feels like I've totally and completely embarrassed myself. I hadn't wanted to act like such a little kid.

Kokomi must be _so embarrassed_. Of _me_.

I excuse myself from the table before the tears can threaten to fall.

I'm definitely overreacting. I never thought myself as such a drama queen.


	5. Chocolate and Confusion

After hurrying out of that bakery, repulsive taste still on my tongue and wad of napkin still in my hand, I knew it was one of my all-you-can-eat chocolate days.

My metabolism is pretty average, and the only exercise I get is walking down my school's hallways. So if I want to continue wearing the same size pants, I do need to watch how much chocolate I satisfy myself with. However, there are days when I allow myself to gorge on as much chocolate as I want. I won't specify what kind of days those are because that will make my feelings right now too obvious. Although, you can probably guess.

I dump the offending wad of napkin in a trash bin and, without a moment to lose, rush to the nearest store. I buy as much chocolate as I have money. I mean, I don't make a habit of carrying around a lot of cash, but the amount of chocolate I get with what I do have will last me a little while. At the very least, it's pleasurable to have a small tower of it sitting next to me, each bar waiting for their turn to be eaten.

I settle on the ground, leaning against a tree, and munch furiously on my third chocolate bar that day. After leaving the convenience store, I had walked back to the park since the multitude of trees would make me feel sorta hidden. Not that I would be noticed anyway, but there's something comforting about the fact that this time, I'm purposefully hiding. Plus, there's a trash can not too far away. I'm upset, that doesn't mean I want to litter.

There's a crinkle of grass from behind me, around the tree. I don't think much of it, the park is a public place after all, but out of curiosity I lean around the tree trunk. I have to crawl around a little (it's a large trunk) and then I freeze from shock.

It's Saiki.

I wonder if it's too late to subtly scoot back to my original sitting position (maybe he doesn't know I'm here?) but I know that it'd be pointless. And even if I didn't know, he turned his head to look at me a moment later, locking eyes before I awkwardly broke it. But I don't particularly feel the need to say anything, so I stand, brush off my clothes a little, and go to pick up my stack of chocolate.

I don't want to be here anymore. Maybe I'll be able to ask him about my sister another time. Today, I feel like being alone. But before leaving, I linger for a moment, wondering if he was going to say something. I think I know why he's here, but maybe he'll have something to say despite the reason.

He doesn't. Clearly. Why would he? To be honest, I'm surprised he even managed to find me. Special talent of mine to blend into the background and all that.

"Did my sister ask you to find me?" I hear myself blurt. Ugh. I need to work on that habit.

He doesn't respond, not really, but I know it's a yes.

"Sorry, then," I say. "But it must have been cool to receive a personal request from her."

I wait for a moment. Still silence. It seems that I'm not going to receive any sort of answer.

It suddenly occurs to me that I've never heard this person speak.

He didn't "oh!" or respond to my sister, but Kokomi didn't seem bothered at all. Actually, she looked as if this were a regular occurrence. Which I know for a _fact_ that it isn't, and I _know_ that she would be extremely bothered if anyone of the male species were not to immediately worship the ground she walked on. Not that that's ever happened before, and it probably never will, but…

Is this kid _mute?_

It's possible.

Everything lines up. He wouldn't be able to respond to Kokomi and he might be able to gasp, but certainly not the "oh!" that she can draw out of everyone.

"Are you mute?"

Hm. Maybe that was rude? Perhaps I'll start trying to create a filter for my words.

He gives me a look, one that says I'm an idiot, which kinda stings and I don't understand. Like, sure, I know that I shouldn't have asked, but it was just a _question_.

"Good grief. No, I'm not mute."

Huh?

Oh, wait, no, nevermind.

For a moment, it hadn't looked like his mouth had moved at all, but I literally must be blind because the movement of his lips became apparent to me once he finished.

Geez, first going insane over a gross taste, and now thinking people can talk without moving their mouths? Today is not a great day for me.

"...okay then." I hesitate. I want to ask, but should I? My mouth opens, but I don't know where to start. But maybe I don't need to.

"You know everything, right?"

"Huh?"

"You're a psychic, aren't you?"

A confused look. A very strange confused look, but a confused look nonetheless. I grip the chocolate in my hand, unfamiliar uncertainty filling me as his eyes bear into me with absolutely no understanding.

"You're a psychic." The words don't come out very loud, so I try again. "You're a psychic! Why aren't you saying anything? You know everything, but you've barely said a word!"

His face went back to being emotionless stone, but it was too clear he had no intention of confirming the truth.

"Fine." I spit. "I'm leaving. You can report back to Kokomi that I went home."

I turn to stomp away, but feel a little bad for yelling at him. Maybe there's a reason he can't tell anyone, not even a perfect stranger like me. Maybe he's being hunted, or has some tragic backstory, or…

I turn and face him again, meeting his eyes, but before I can do much else, I feel a wash of truth flows over me, like a rush of ocean water down the back, and I know, I _know_ that he's a psychic. The truth actually hurt, a little, pinching my brain like a sudden but sharp headache. It causes my hand to twitch, as if glitching, and I drop the chocolate in my hand.

Saiki did not look at me as I hurriedly bent to pick up the chocolate bars, but I still felt like he was watching. I don't like it. I don't like being watched. I send him one last look before running away, mind swirling.

I've never had the same realization twice about a person. And it's certainly never _hurt_ before. I glance down at the chocolate in my hands and make a quick head count.

1, 2, 4, 5…

There's no sixth?

2, 3, 5…

There's only five.

Shoot. I lost one of them.

I stop running, panting now, and glance behind me in the direction of the park. It's probably laying on the dirty ground, sad and lonely. I think about going back to retrieve it, re-provide myself with chocolate, but one thought of that pink-headed guy turns me away. If he's still there, then the chocolate bar will have to be abandoned.

 **A/N**

 _Short chapter, but I have a reallllyyyy long chapter for you guys next, so bear with me for now, haha_


	6. Partner Project

The desks at school are very old. I know this, not because I'm a desk expert, but because of the generations of students who left their marks on the aging wood. I spend the entirety of classes staring at the work of the genius artists that were my predecessors. I can confidently claim that "Rentaro was here" and some girl named Chiyo had a scary crush on a guy named Eijiro, based on how many times she connected their names. There's endless stuff like that and it can easily keep my attention through the boring classes.

I am in the process of deciphering an abstract-looking doodle when a single phrase said by my teacher causes my ears to twitch.

"...partner project…"

Immediate dread fills me.

I glance up and take in my surroundings that I had been ignoring. When did I even zone out? On the whiteboard is a lot of writing detailing a poem we analyzed as a class. Okay, I remember doing that at the beginning. No memory of a project though, and no clues written on the board.

"I will allow you to choose your partners, just remember you two are being graded as one."

As soon as the words were spoken, a wave of turning heads floods through the class, best friends giving each other "the look." A few others point questioning fingers and received head nods in return.

Ah. Having a friend must be so convenient right now. Though, it's fine. I will be partners with whoever is left, or work alone. I've never had problems in this situation before.

A waving hand catches my eye and I can't help but look at the source. Gina, four desks away, grins when she finally catches my attention. She points, first at me, then at herself, and makes a questioning movement.

That's...she's asking me to be partners?

Dumbfounded, I nod my head. She flashes a brilliant smile and faces forward again. I move to stare at the board again too, but I'm focused on wondering why my heart beat so pleasantly, sped up from the excitement of being asked for partnership. She noticed me before, too, when I was leaving school, and was worried about me.

I remind myself that I don't care about having friends.

"Nomi!" A cheerful Gina pops in front of my desk the second class ends, her barrettes as sparkly as ever. Her glasses were hanging on the edge of her nose, in dire need of adjustment, but she didn't seem to notice.

We only have a few minutes before the next class, so I'm not sure what kind of conversation could be productive in such a short time slot, but I respond anyway.

"Hi. Do you want to talk about the project?" From what I gathered from the rest of the class, it's a creative writing assignment. Using all of the writing techniques we've learned so far this year. I'm honestly a little worried about it since I don't remember learning anything at all. I swear I pay a decent amount of attention to my classes, but right now I have to question my ability to remember stuff.

"Hm? Oh, no, not really. Well, kinda. Thought we could figure out a day to work on the project real fast. It's due in a few days."

"Then how about tomorrow after school? My house is fine, only my brother will be home."

"You have siblings, Nomi?"

"Yes, two. An older sister and brother."

"Lucky. I'd love to be the youngest. I have a younger brother, it kills. He likes to bring dead spiders into the house and place them on my bed."

She shudders and makes a terrified face. It's such an exaggerated reenactment of her horror that I couldn't help it—I laugh.

"No, it's true!" She continues, delighted in receiving such a positive reaction. "I can't stand touching those monsters either, so I have to beg him to get rid of them."

"Why not your parents?"

"The first time, my dad said something about spiders being part of life and how I should learn to accept them. Was a little upset with my brother for messing with the dead. He's sorta hippie, I guess. My mom thought it was funny." Gina makes a frown, but I could see a smile twitch at the corner.

Habitually, I glance at the clock and note less than a minute until our next class. Most of the students are already sitting back down in their desks.

"So my house, tomorrow after school? Let's brainstorm ideas until then." I confirm.

She flashes me another one of her smiles. "Sure, let's walk together to your house then."

She plops back into her desk the moment the door slides open to reveal our history teacher. As he opens his notebook and picks up an Expo marker, I think about my short conversation with Gina and feel a smile curve my lips.

Maybe this is why Kokomi likes the attention of other people. I never imagined it felt this nice.

"So what's your brother like? How old is he?" Gina questions. We've just started walking to my house to work on the project and her bouncy way of walking is already dizzying.

"18. He's a little...weird," I summarize, sudden memories of him following Kokomi around filling my head. I work to replace them with more flattering ones, memories of when he acts like a brother and not a stalker. "But nice. He can get a bit protective, though."

"Cool, well, I gave our project a little thought."

"Yeah?" I had too, but hadn't been able to come up with anything good. I'm glad she was feeling confident.

"I think we should do a little romance story."

I can't help but look at her in surprise. Gina is most in her element during science class—I certainly didn't take her for a romantic.

She must have misinterpreted my look because she laughed. "Nothing complicated, we don't need to get into a love triangle or anything, I was just thinking we would be able to cover most of the requirements without thinking about them too much."

I puzzle over the potential of a romance story for a little bit. Straightforward, and we can use typical tropes when we get stuck on writer's block. "Yeah, sounds good to me. Have you thought about a plot?"

"Yes!" She jumped, clearly excited to share her idea. "Okay, but you can't judge me, okay? Okay?"

"Okay…"

"Okay, so, the main character is this girl, and she has this major crush on a boy, but she doesn't know how to get the boy to notice her. So she goes through all this crazy stuff to get him to notice her but all of it either backfires or doesn't work. And in the end, she goes up and just straight tells him the deal and she finds out he's been watching her the whole time!"

"Sounds like a novel."

"We can write a short version."

"Oh, turn right here, my house is right there." I pull out my house key and open the door, walking inside. "I think we can do it, plus the idea of her going through multiple plans to get his attention gives us a lot of room to hit all the requirements. Makoto!" I call into the house. "I'm home! A classmate is here for a school project!"

There's no response. Either he's memorizing lines, or he hasn't gotten home yet. I guide Gina to my room and tell her to make herself comfortable, to which she responds to by falling face-first onto my bed, a muffled shout proclaiming its softness. I sit at my desk and turn on the computer sitting there, quickly typing in my password when the prompt came up. I maneuver to a new document and wonder at the blank page.

"How should we start?" Gina's voice suddenly appears right beside me, startling me into clicking the keyboard. A "j" appears, and she laughs as I delete it, which makes me smile.

"Do you have names for your characters?" I ask. "Because I think I have a couple that I'd like to use."

"Sure, let's hear them."

"Chiyo and Eijiro," I say, remembering my desk at school. I don't know if they ever did get together, but I think Chiyo would like it if she were able to be with her crush even in fiction.

Gina shrugs. "Sure, those sound fine to me." A mischievous grin suddenly curled. "We can start the story with 'Eijiro always looks soooo dreamy.'"

I burst out laughing. "'I spend hours staring at him during class. I just can't get him out of my mind!'"

She shrieks, my contribution exciting her. "'I wonder what's going on in his mind! I wish he would stare at me, too.'" She acts it out dramatically, falling to her knees and staring into the world of imagination.

Giggling, I type it all, and continue to type for the next hour. The story goes completely off track, but it's so much fun to pretend to be this crazy, love-stricken girl that we don't even care. She lavishes Eijiro with gifts in his locker and desk but forgets to put her name on them. She writes a love confession as her speech for debate class, but he turns out sick that day so he wasn't in school. She prepares an airplane and pilot to write her love with clouds, but he had an eye doctor appointment and just got his eyes dilated, so he couldn't look up at the sky where the sun was. Failure after failure, the girl Chiyo did more and more bizarre things.

Gina and I are cracking up particularly hard after Gina tried to act out a ridiculous dance routine that "absolutely has to be in the story" but accidentally ran into the wall. The moment it happened, I felt the air release from my lungs and I fell to the floor in a fit of giggles. She joined me soon after, and then we couldn't stop—laughing together as if it had been the funniest thing to have ever happened or ever will happen.

Suddenly, my bedroom door bangs open. A growling Makoto is revealed to be on the other side.

"What are you _doing_ , Nomi? I'm trying to...oh, hello," he stops, awkwardly, upon noticing an unfamiliar face. The interruption calmed me, though, and I was able to stop laughing long enough to breathe and massage my cheeks. I couldn't stop it from twitching back into a smile though when I remembered the SLAM! into the wall.

"This is Gina," I provide. "We're working on a project together."

"That's...great." He looks puzzled. Oh, that's right. I never bring classmates home, so the new event must be throwing him off. I raise my eyebrows at him and he blinks, comes back to reality, and shuts my door. I turn back to Gina as his footsteps fade away down the hall.

"So that was my brother."

"You didn't tell me your brother was Mugami Tooru!" She quietly squeals, hands gesturing wildly. "Oh my gosh! He's so famous! And he's your brother!"

"Ah, yea—"

"And he's even dreamier in real life."

"Um, I gu—"

"Gosh, that must be so incredible to be related to him. I bet you get to meet all sorts of celebrities!"

"Not really." I state shortly, suddenly angry. I expect her to keep raving about my brother, but she turns toward me in surprise, quickly melting away to guilt.

"Oh, gosh, no, I'm so sorry, Nomi. I didn't mean to focus on him like that, I was just so shocked, I lost all sense of reality. I really didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

My anger immediately transformed to my own guilt. How could I possibly be mad? Excitement is a natural reaction when such a huge celebrity suddenly pops up with no warning.

"No, I'm sorry too, I should have told you."

"I really didn't mean that he's dreamy," she continues, desperate to clear up a potential misunderstanding. "I mean, I did, and I do, but not _that_ kind of dreamy. Like yes, he's totally dreamy, but I have a crush on..." Immediately her cheeks flush red as soon as she realizes what she just almost admitted to. She snaps back to my desk and shoves her hands on the computer's keyboard. "So Chiyo dances in front of the school, but Eijiro doesn't realize it's an interpretive dance of her love for him…" She begins typing heavily, probably hoping the clicking noise of the keyboard will distract me.

Such hope is foolish.

"Who?" I ask slowly, sliding next to her.

"Who what?" She asks, determined.

"Who do you have a crush on?"

"I never said I have a crush on anybody."

"Yes you did."

"No, I didn't."

"Hm." I look at the computer screen but give her a sideways look. Then I sigh and fall to the ground. "Whatever you say, Gina. But I'll find out sooner or later."

"Oh yeah? How would that work?"

I tap my head with my forefinger. "I just know things."

She gives me a look that almost sends me to laughter, but pain stops me in my tracks—that harsh pinch again, right in the front of my brain. A boy's face enters my mind, but I push it away in favor of getting rid of the sharp headache suddenly throbbing behind my eyes.

"Nomi?"

"Mmm?"

"Nomi!"

"Yes? What?" I take away my hand from my head to stare at Gina in response to her outburst. She frowns at me.

"Are you okay? Do you have a headache?"

"Ah..yeah…"

"Do you need Advil or something? Water?"

"No, no, it's okay." I do my best to shake off the residual pain—it's mostly gone now—and tap the computer screen. "Are we almost done though? We can probably end it soon, right?"

She makes a face of sympathy towards me but follows my lead and moves on from my headache.

"Yeah, we can end it, I can't imagine that we've missed any requirements at this point, and I should be getting home."

"Okay, but then are we cutting the dance routine?"

"No."

"Good. Because it was brilliant."

"We should probably cut the part when I ran into the wall though."

"Absolutely not, that was the best part!"

I wave goodbye from the front-doorway as she disappears down the street, heading home after a long night of brilliant writing. I walk up the stairs to my bedroom and collapse on my bed, peeking at the computer screen to make sure the document is still there. We saved it, but I should probably email it to myself to be safe.

A wide smile spreads across my face and I'm quick to bury it in my covers. That was so...fun. I never realized being with another person could make me so happy. This must be why everyone is so obsessed with making friends.

Well, I won't be so greedy as to suddenly wish for more people to take notice of me. Gina is more than I could hope for, and certainly more than I ever dared to dream of.

I giggle a little and sigh happiness.

I, Teruhashi Nomi, have a friend.

 ** _A/N_**

 _Alright guys, meet Gina! A little quirky, but a cheerful and thoughtful friend for our Nomi._

 _Hm? What was that? You think it's strange that Gina can notice Nomi when no one else can? Well, friendship is magic, after all._

 _Kidding, kidding (though only slightly). While friendship_ is _magic, we have to remember that Nomi is not completely invisible, just easily overlooked. She just blends in a little too well (I guess kinda like Satou, but even more extreme?). Gina is just one of those people who make sure to take special notice of everyone around her and is particularly good at it. She has really awesome observation skills, which is why her favorite and best class is science. Hope you guys like her._


	7. Chapter 0 (power explanation)

Hey guys!

I wanted to give you all a quick explanation of Nomi's power. I originally intended to do this during the story, but I think I missed the chance for it, so I decided I'd just write it out.

I think (I hope lol) that her power will become clearer in future chapters, so if you'd like to find out about her power slowly like that, you can totally skip this. But maybe knowing about it beforehand will make the story more fun to read?

I'm only going to explain to what Nomi knows of her own power, or what I feel that you, as the audience, should know.

Okay, explanation starting now:

Nomi's power is based around secrets.

It's a little similar to mind reading, except she's not _reading_ minds so much as if she's just gaining information as if she had always known it.

The information she gains is "the secret that the person wants to hide the most at that moment."

Okay, I don't know if that makes any sense. Let me use an example:

When Nomi was trying to get Gina to share her secret crush, Gina did not want to share. So, the secret that Gina wanted to hide at that moment was the identity of her crush. Yes, it is possible that Gina has other, larger secrets, but at THAT moment, the secret that Gina wanted to keep hidden the most was the identity of her crush. Nomi's power reacted to that strong feeling, so Nomi became suddenly aware of who Gina's crush is. Nomi now knows who Gina's crush is with absolute certainty that she is correct.

A key factor of her power is that she doesn't have any control over it, and it seems to be changing. It occurs with more frequency now, and she's starting to get bad headaches whenever it activates. She currently does not know why it is changing.

Nomi does not particularly like or dislike her power. It has never done anything for her, but it's never done anything against her, either. But, she gets the feeling that it's related to the reason why she always goes unnoticed, so while she's pretty apathetic about the whole thing, she thinks maybe it would be better not to have it, if she ever got the chance. Especially now that it's starting to hurt her and it's all completely out of her control.

I'm going to just say that it's a "psychic power" to fit the theme of the show, but I think that it's more that she got this power instead of the golden glow of perfection that her siblings got.

I really hope this makes sense, and I really hope that I didn't make you guys even MORE confused TT

Well, while I'm talking, I should say that I have a general outline of where I'm taking the story, but if you guys have any suggestions or things you'd like to see, I'd love to hear them!

With love,

microsleep


	8. Uncertainty

Let's skip forward a month or so because nothing particularly interesting happened during that time. Gina and I got a 92% on our project so we went out for ice cream to celebrate. I got triple chocolate, obviously, and she got watermelon sherbet. Then we hung out. We hung out the next day, too. And every day since. To be honest, I'm not sure what we talk about half of the time, but I've never been more excited to wake up each morning.

"Gina!" A girl's high-pitched voice exclaims from behind me. It's between class periods, so I popped over to Gina's desk to discuss with her about a book I'm currently reading. Gina pokes her head around me and grins broadly.

"Yuria!"

"Gosh, Gina, I feel like I haven't seen you in years." The girl called Yuria approaches Gina's desk, completely oblivious to my presence. She's wearing the school uniform, but I can tell that she doesn't like it much. The sleeves are hiked up past her elbows, the skirt to its minimum length, and she's decorated herself with an appalling number of bracelets. "What have you been doing?" She asks Gina.

"Studying, you should try it sometime." Gina teases. She then gestures toward me. "This is Nomi. Nomi, this is Yuria. She's from a few classrooms down."

Yuria looks at me for the first time, blinking. "Oh, hey. What classroom are you from?"

"This one." I say, and when she gives me a look of confusion, I point to my desk.

"What? No way!" Yuria stares at me as if I just revealed that I'm an alien. "I thought I knew everyone from this class!"

Ah. Well, I can see where she went wrong, although it isn't her fault that I'm practically invisible. Honestly, I wish I could go back to not being seen right now. Her huge eyes actually _seeing_ me is stressing me out. What is she thinking? That I look weird? Maybe my clothes look funny. Or is there something in my teeth? Oh gosh, she probably thinks I'm super lame.

"Umm, hello?"

My heart jolts and I feel my face grow hot as I realize that I had yet to actually reply to her. I force myself to look in her eyes. _Don't mess up, Nomi. Wouldn't it be super cool to have_ two _friends?_

"I—"

"Yo, Yuria, been a while." Kanbe, a guy in my class, slides up and shifts his sloppy, light brown hair. He normally sits in the second to last row next to the window and has an issue keeping quiet during class, but he gets the best grades in the school.

"Kanbe, heyyyy! Ohmigosh, I just found out that Nomi is in this class." My heart jolts again.

"Nomi?" Kanbe asks.

I glance at Yuria, but immediately regret it when there's a sharp _burst_ of pain in my head, causing my knees to almost give way. I remain standing, though, and avoid looking at Yuria. She has a crush on Kanbe. Huh.

"Yeah, Nomi. This girl." She gestures towards me, and I nod shyly, still a little dazed from the sudden headache I had gotten. Kanbe microscopically frowns in a thoughtful manner when he nods back.

What do I do? Do I say something? Kanbe obviously has no idea who I am, but it would probably be really strange to Yuria if I had to introduce myself to a classmate four months into the school year. Ahhhh, I want the floor to swallow me up. I glance at Gina with a desperate look.

 _Help me._

I don't know if she saw it, but she definitely saved me.

"C'mon, Kanbe, are you still sleeping? The teachers are going to hate you if you keep acing their tests without paying attention. At least pretend."

He laughed, all questions about who I am disappearing. "Not my fault that they're endlessly boring."

Yuria sighed wistfully. "I wish I were half as smart as you. I take the most diligent notes and still can't get good grades."

"You may take the notes, but do you study them?"

Yuria playfully smacked Kanbe with her notebook. "Shut up. Maybe you should tutor me."

At this point, I'm wondering if I should leave. I should leave, right? They all probably want me to leave. Kanbe and Yuria have no clue who I am, and Gina probably—definitely—wants to hang out with them over me. But if I leave and they didn't actually want me to leave, they'll think that I don't like them, and then they'll think I don't want to be friends with them. And it's not as if I do want to be friends with them, it's just that it's been so nice hanging out with Gina this past month that I'd really like to try to branch out a bit, or at least be able to get along with her other friends. Oh gosh, what if her other friends don't like me, so they tell Gina, and Gina says she can't be friends with me anymore because I'm not cool enough?

"Nomi?"

I jump. Gina. Staring at me.

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

"Hm? Oh! Yeah, totally fine. 100%. Way cool. Oh, Yuria is gone." I glance around and note that Kanbe was back in his seat too, staring blankly out the window.

Gina tried to keep down her amused smile, failing to prevent her laugh to make fun of me. "Are you sure you're okay? You even waved goodbye when she left."

...I did?

"I did?"

At this, Gina let loose and burst out giggling. "Yes! Nomi, where even were you?"

I laugh, too, but much more awkwardly. "Uh, haha, not sure. Just thinking, I guess."

"Pfft, well, think back to your desk, class is about to start."

"Ah, right."

Right.

I walk home with Gina again today. She waits for me as I switch my shoes and we head out together with a comment about the math homework. We almost make it out of the gates before a voice halts us.

"Gina!"

We both stop and turn to see Yuria racing after us, shoes half-on and backpack dangerously unzipped. When she reaches us, she drops her bag with a huge breath of air, zipping it up as she catches her breath.

"Gina, and...uh, I'm really sorry, I forgot, what's your name?"

It takes me a moment to realize that she's talking to me. "Nomi."

"Okay. Nomi. Anyway, Gina, I have a favor to ask you."

"Ask away," Gina says.

"My class is doing a project and we're supposed to collaborate with people from other classes—" she rolls her eyes. "—and I was hoping you'd be willing to help me out?"

Gina uncharacteristically hesitates for a moment. It catches me by surprise since she always seems confident and willing to help out anyone. That's why she always helps me out, right?

But while I was unsure about why Gina hesitated, Yuria had no such question in her head.

"C'mon Gina! I know you're super busy with that thing, but you're the absolute best option for me and I _need_ you."

That thing? What thing? I've been constantly hanging out with Gina for a month now, and I don't know about any sort of _thing_.

My mind races, analyzing every moment I can remember from this past month. Will I be able to figure out what it is? Why didn't she tell me? Does she not trust me?

"What would I have to do?" Gina asks.

"The point of the project is that we both interview people from other classes about my topic and compare the data. You're the only one I know who knows as many people as I do."

Gina knows lots of people? How many people is that? Why does she hang out with me, then?

"Huh? Why can't you do that yourself?"

"I don't know! It's just the project. Different social groups or something. Please, Gina? You'll get extra credit."

Gina sighs. "Of course I want to help you out, Yuria," Yuria breaks out into a bright grin, which soon lessens a bit. "But I don't know if I'll have the time to interview a bunch of people."

"I-I know, that's why—"

"That's why," Gina smiles enthusiastically. "Nomi and I can work together on it!"

Huh?

….Wait. "What?"

"C'mon, Nomi, if we both do it, we can finish in half the time! Plus, we're going to be hanging out all the time anyway."

I glance at Yuria. It looks like she's deep in thought, perhaps just trying to remember the rules of the assignment, or perhaps wishing I wouldn't get involved. She probably doesn't like me much. I shouldn't push myself into her project if she doesn't want me to. I go to decline, but then Gina aims her brilliant smile towards me and it blinds my logic.

It feels nice, like she's totally confident in my ability to help.

"Sure," I hear myself say. Gina's smile, if possible, shines slightly brighter.

"Great!" she exclaims. "So, Yuria, we'll be in your care!"

"Oh, gosh, thank you!" Yuria grabs Gina into a big hug, and gives me a small smile over her shoulder. "I'll share the google doc with you guys, it'll have all the details! Thanks again!"

And then she plopped her bag back on her shoulder and rushed off, bleached hair bouncing behind her.

Gina grabs hold of my hand and pulls me along, restarting our walk home.

"C'mon, let's go. Can we grab food, too? I'm starving."

 _What "_ thing" _is Yuria talking about?_

I want to ask. I've never had problems asking anything before, but for some reason my tongue just won't shape the words. What if she doesn't want to talk about it, and will be mad that I'm asking? What if she doesn't want to be my friend anymore?

I let Gina drag me to a cafe. We talk as usual, but the doubt won't leave my mind.

 _She's not telling you something important._

But I'm not brave enough to ask what it is.


	9. Headache

I can't sleep.

I've been tossing and turning for hours and my eyes have refused to stay closed. Gina isn't telling me something. Is it because she doesn't think she can trust me? Is it because she doesn't actually like me?

If it's something that takes up all her time, then I should know about it, right? Because I'm with her all the time lately...oh my gosh, am _I_ the thing? Am I some sort of pity project?

No, no, because Yuria knew about the thing, but she didn't know about me.

Don't be unreasonable. The "thing" is definitely not me. Definitely.

Stop thinking about it.

Stop.

Gosh, Yuria hates me though, doesn't she? She did not seem happy that I was joining the project. Well, that's to be expected, she didn't even know I existed until today. Maybe she doesn't hate me, but just doesn't know what to think about me.

What if she hates me?

What if she hates me and tells Gina and Gina decides not to be friends with me anymore because Yuria hates me?

What is Gina hiding?

I turn over and shove a pillow over my face, hoping the extra weight will _make_ me fall asleep.

I wish I could just know what they all were thinking. _Then_ I'd be able to sleep.

Half an hour later, Kokomi starts yelling at Makoto to get out of her room, and the familiar sound soothes my stressed brain into dreamland.

I wake up to my blaring alarm and a pounding headache. Slamming the "off" button, I let my face fall back into my pillow for a few more glorious seconds before shoving myself out of the warm comfort of my bed. I stumble to the bathroom, shove on my uniform, and sleepily wander to the kitchen, all the while praying for some Advil.

"Good morning, Nomi!"

 _Of course_ Kokomi is a morning person. She's a night person too. She's just a "all of the time is my time to shine" person.

"Morning," I mumble back, purposefully avoiding looking at her. Her gold glow would be way too bright for my tired eyes and definitely not good for my headache. I pull a chair over to the fridge to reach the cabinet on top and rummage through the basket from the back. I send a prayer of thanks when I find the small container of Advil. To whom I sent that prayer exactly, I don't know, but I'd guess whoever in Heaven blessed Kokomi and Makoto. They didn't give me a gold glow, but with how awful my head is pounding right now, the Advil almost makes up for it. Honestly, it feels like my entire body is about to implode.

"Are you feeling okay?" My sister asks, a perfect picture of sisterly concern.

"Yeah, fine," I less-perfectly reply, shaking out two pills before reclosing the container. "Just got an awful headache."

"Oh, gosh, well, here you go." Out of the corner of my eye, I see her bring me a glass of water. I gratefully move to grab it—

"GOOD MORNING MY ANGEL!" My brother crashes through the entrance to the kitchen, startling Kokomi into dropping the glass.

I don't hear it crash, though.

Oh gosh. _The pain._

I had instinctively turned to look when Makoto burst in, but the moment I looked at his face—pain.

Horrible, shrieking pain.

It's shaking my actual brain, or maybe I'm being stabbed in my stomach, or maybe I'm being skinned alive.

Ripped apart.

I'm so close to being distracted, though, by the hundreds or thousands of images flashing in my mind. Seeing them all at once, but not seeing them at all. I just know what they are, who the people in them are, and why it's important.

And voices. So many voices.

"I think you could be a st"you're gonna be famous!"ar""look, Mak"what flavor ramen do you want?"oto, it's your "she's perfect"little sister""Nomi?""we signed you up for a TV series""gosh he's so cute""how was the pho"we're having another"toshoot?""baby""it's okay""protect your "acting is great"sisters, yo""NOMI!"don't tell anyone"u're the big brother""don't go near"she's mine" her"

Layering. I can't...I can't...figure anything out. What…?

"My sist"make sure to"er "protect" is perfect""you're a guy, but ev"go out with me!"en I think you're attractive""hey, you wa"where's your sister?"nna play?""whoa, that's your "he's so protective of his" sister?""sister""introduce me to your sister, I want to "go out with me!"be her boyfriend""I'd totally "give up, he's only" marry "interested in his" your sister""sister"

"HEY! NOMI!"

...Makoto?

"Kokomi, call an ambulance or something!"

What? Why? What happened? Ugh. My head hurts.

"Nomi, hey, you there?"

Yes, dummy, I'm right here. My head still hurts. I never got to take that Advil…

Advil...water...Makoto…

Oh, wow. I have a whole list in my head right now of every secret Makoto's ever kept.

Wait, did I pass out?

I peel my eyes open, struggling against the bright lights above.

"Nomi! Thank goodness. You okay? You're okay, right?"

Ugh. Too bright. Not sure if it's the lightbulb or my brother, though. I squeeze my eyes shut, nodding to answer his question.

"Wh-at happened?"

"I don't know. I came into the kitchen and you just fell over. And..you were...you missed the counter, but I was worried you hit your head too hard on the floor."

"Ah…" I reach up with my left hand and rub my temples, using my right arm to lever myself into a sitting position. The headache was dulling to a faint rumble.

"Nomi?" I hear Kokomi kneel by my side and she places her arms around me. "I called an ambulance, they'll be here soon."

"Isn't that a bit of an overreaction? I don't need to go to a hospital—I only fainted."

"You fainted? But Nomi...you were screaming."

My throat dried out, but I quickly shook my head, keeping my eyes firmly on my lap. "I only fainted."

She hesitated. "I'll just ask them to look for a concussion, then," she tried to compromise.

"No!"

Silence. I feel their questioning stares. Concerned.

"It's just...I'm honestly fine, and I'm sure it'd be better for that ambulance to be able to help someone who actually needs it," I hurry to explain, trying to hide my desperation.

Neither answer for a few very long seconds.

"Nomi…"

"I don't want it." I stubbornly affirm.

It's probably obvious that I'm hiding something, but I beg in my mind that neither will ask. I'm not ready to share.

"Alright," she eventually says and I almost sigh from relief. "I'll tell them it was a mistake, then."

She got up and left the room. I worked to get up myself, doing my best not to make it obvious that I was avoiding looking at my brother.

"Nomi?"

"I'm going to go lay down," I say, and quickly retreat to my bedroom.

 _I only fainted_

I'm such a liar.

But if they were to check me for a concussion, they would have to check my eyes. And...I'm scared. What would happen if I had to look at them? What if I accidentally looked at one of their faces?

I start playing with my hair to hide my shaking hands.

I have an awful, awful feeling that the rules of my power just changed.

I skip school. I distantly overheard Makoto calling in to tell them that I'm sick, though I should have told him not to bother. They wouldn't notice either way.

He had to go to work, filming more of his show, but he peeked into my room to promise to come home as soon as he could. Kokomi did the same before hurrying off to school.

I was left alone. It's quiet. Silent.

...lonely.

I never thought I _could be_ lonely. I suppose Gina changed me, giving me a taste of that incredible friendship.

I roll over and hug one of my pillows.

Would she even want to be friends with me if she knew that I read her mind all those weeks ago? Her crush, her most guarded secret, just popped into my head.

Would that...scare her?

Suddenly, Saiki's refusal to admit to his powers makes a sort of sense.

The doorbell rings.

I squint a bit at my bedroom door, trying to mentally measure the distance I would need to travel in order to answer the door. First I'd have to exit my room, walk down that horribly long hallway...

It rings again.

Reluctantly, I get out of bed and shuffle the path to the front door, passing by the kitchen. One of my siblings must have cleaned up because the glass on the floor is gone. I make a mental note to circle back through the kitchen after answering to door—I see a new glass of water sitting on the counter with the Advil container. Kokomi must have set it all out for me.

The doorbell rings again. I roll my eyes, regretting it immediately when my head claws in warning, but feeling no less annoyed with the person outside the door. They're awfully persistent.

I crack open the door, peeking through to check who it is.

"Hello, would you like to buy—"

And I slam the door.

I only glanced at his face, barely a look, but the dull rumble in my head roared to life, attacking my head from the inside.

I feel myself lean against the wall, an echoing pain shooting through my legs when my knees smack the floor.

"don't cry""how many"get a good education" jobs do you need?""gosh, you could "sir, would you like a gold feather?"get me to buy anything""college is too expensive""avoid confro"pay your bills!"ntation""sorry that I couldn't leave"ma'am, you need this automatic egg-cracker" you any inherit"I'll take one then, please"ance"

It's okay. This hurts a lot less than earlier. Though, that's really not saying much. My limbs still feel like they're being pulled in all different directions, muscles screaming for help.

Okay.

Just.

Control my breathing.

Control.

Slowly, very, very slowly, the hundreds of voices fade. The images disappear and dull rumble reappears. It's my own mind again. I shove away the list of secrets. I don't care, anyway.

I stay on the floor for a while after that, feeling the comfort of the carpet below me.

* * *

 _Hullo!_

 _OKAY I'M SORRY_

 _I know, I've been taking wayyyyyyy too long to finish this story. It wasn't even ever supposed to be this long! And I'm dragging it out and making it way harder than it needs to be and..._

 _Well, okay, so real talk:_

 _I spent a lot of time just writing this story without publishing anything. So actually, writing-wise, I'm pretty close to finishing. Kind of. I mean...probably? I can unconfidently claim that I'm close. Publishing-wise though...ehhhhh_

 _I get nervous, okay? I have low confidence in myself._

 _Well, if anyone is still reading this, you'll probably notice that my quality in writing will drop dramatically as you read more chapters, and that's simply because I began to rush the story in an attempt to force myself to just. finish. it. Because I would really hate publishing an incomplete story, and I have a terrible habit of dragging things out._

 _Anyway. Anyone have thoughts about the REAWAKENED series?_

 _Love ya'll_

 _microsleep_


	10. Avoidance

I'm not sure how long I stay on the floor, breathing in and out through clenched teeth. The faint headache never disappears, but eventually I successfully will myself up and make my way to the kitchen.

The glass is still standing proudly, though the water is now probably hours old. I sip it and put away the Advil without taking any—I doubt that it would help anyway. I carry the glass upstairs with me to my room. I really want to lay down.

I push open my door and set down the glass on my desk, but then I pause. A chocolate bar? I don't remember buying any recently, let alone leaving one next to my computer. I pick it up and inspect it.

It looks brand new, and it has yet to soften from the warm temperature. It's the brand I usually get when I want a quick fix, since it's found in almost every convenience store…

I have no idea where it came from, but it's exactly what I need.

I peel open the wrapping and bite off a piece, letting it melt silkily over my tongue.

I have to hold back my temptation to sigh from the pure joy that blossoms within my heart.

Perfect.

I feel alive again.

I crawl into bed and settle under my covers, chewing my treat with delight. It's a small comfort considering how scary my weird power has become, but something about eating chocolate as usual makes it all seem okay.

Yeah, I'll be okay.

And I was fully convinced of that, too, until two days later, at school.

 _Of course_ I was going to go back to school. I couldn't skip it. I'm by no means a model student, but that doesn't mean I'm a delinquent. I know education is important. I attend my classes and do my homework.

Okay, so maybe I could have thought it through a bit more. Going to school requires looking at people. The teachers, the people sitting in front of you, and anyone else you glance at throughout the day. I wasn't really thinking, okay? I did say earlier that I was dumb sometimes. It just seemed like the best option. Makoto was bursting in all worried at night, and Kokomi was fussy too, and I was worried that if I stayed home another day they'd make me go to the hospital. Which...might have been better, actually.

Huh. Maybe I'll just go myself. Wouldn't they be able to figure something out with my power?

No, no. I shake my head to myself. It's common knowledge that, if someone has powers, they must keep it a secret. Because...government. Or other types of villains? I'm not sure, but I know it's not good if anyone finds out.

Then again, I've never heard of a power so useless that it incapacitates the user after glancing at someone's face. I'm kind of lame, aren't I?

"Hey, Nomi, glad you're back!"

I catch myself from glancing up just in time, refusing to move the book away from my face. I came early today so that I wouldn't accidentally see someone as I made my way to my seat, but I forgot that Gina has no problem coming to talk to me.

She won't think that it's weird if I don't look at her, right?

"Hey, what'd I miss?" I ask into the pages.

"Not much. School, school, and homework. What are you reading?"

She moves around to see the cover and I flinch, pulling the book closer to my face.

"Ohh, good choice," she hums, pulling away. I relax. "Shirigami Fudekichi is such a great writer. Did you know he makes manga books, too?"

"Oh, really?" I turn a page. I don't read any of the words, but I need to pretend this book is super fascinating.

"Yeah," she continues. "His one series is actually really popular...Ah! Class is about to start, talk to you later!"

I hide my breath of relief and put down the book when the teacher begins to talk, but I don't look anywhere except down at my notebook. I base all of my notes on what I can hear and immediately put my book up again when class ends.

When school finally, blissfully, ends, I shove all of my stuff into my backpack and run out of the classroom, ignoring Gina's calls for my attention.

It continues like that for a few days.

 _Yes_ , I continued to go to school.

Again, not a delinquent.

I had a few...urm... _episodes_ of accidentally looking at people's faces a few times, but I managed to keep it to the minimum. And never Gina. I never want to pry into Gina's life again.

"You've been avoiding me." Gina says.

Uh-oh.

There's no question in her voice, nor room for escape. She's trapped me at my desk, face furrowed in a book, unprepared for confrontation. I can't even hope for the class bell to ring—school has ended and everyone was already getting up to leave.

I close my eyes and shake my head, leaning down to put my book away inside my desk.

"What are you talking about?" I pretend.

"Don't _lie_ , Nomi. I thought we were friends."

 _Friends_.

The word stings, for some reason.

An apology plays on my tongue, but I swallow it. What would I say? Sorry for making you think we were friends? That would get her to leave me be, but...an apology would mean that it's all over. The laughs, the ice cream, the _everything_.

Instead, I begin to mess with the organization of my books.

"It's not that we aren't friends," I say, hoping it's true, "I just…"

Can I even explain it? Will she even believe me?

Will she still want to be friends after?

"You just _what_ , Nomi?"

But what about her? I have questions for Gina, too. Yuria said that Gina was busy, and Gina never denied it, but she never told me what she was busy _with_. It must be important, so what is it?

So _what_ if I keep my secret?

"Nomi, please. I'm...I'm worried."

My heart drops. I want to look at her, gods, I almost _do_ look at her. I want to see her brilliant smile and sparkly barrettes and adorable glasses. I want to _see my friend_. But... "I can't."

"What?"

"I can't," I whisper.

There's a pause.

"Why not?" She whispers back.

"I'll get hurt," I try to explain. I try. I try I try I try. "I'll get hurt so bad, and you won't even believe me."

"Please, Nomi, I'll believe you. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" I snap. An accident, an accident, I swear. "But I won't have to worry about _getting_ hurt if you weren't here." My mouth blurts whatever it wants, only the core truth, nothing that actually matters...

The pause is longer this time. So long, I wonder if she's still there. But eventually, I hear her mutter a "fine" and her footsteps as she walks out of the classroom, the door shutting definitively behind her.

She never tries approaching me again.

After a few more days, I stop going to school.

I guess delinquents aren't the only people who skip school.

Sad people do, too.

* * *

 _Forgive me for any mistakes, I don't have a beta reader._

 _Also, sorry that the story is kind of...depressing...? right now. I think, when I created the outline for the story, I fell into my habit of writing depressing and sad, which seriously isn't the feeling of the show Saiki K, but...hey, that's what fanfiction is, right? Making it your own? idk_


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